Food waste packaging apparatus for an automatic waste collection system

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a food waste packaging apparatus for an automatic waste collection system, and more particularly, to a food waste packaging apparatus for an automatic waste collection system which automatically performs, when food waste is injected into a food waste inlet port, the processes of putting the food waste into a packaging bag, sealing the packaging bag, and discharging the packaging bag. The food waste packaging apparatus for an automatic waste collection system according to the present invention comprises: 
     a loading unit arranged below the food waste inlet port such that a plurality of packaging bags are laid in the horizontal direction and loaded into a layer on the loading unit; supply means for sucking the top packaging bag from among the packaging bags loaded on the loading unit, placing, by means of rotation, the sucked top packaging bag in the vertical direction below a hopper of the waste inlet port, and opening the upper portion of the packaging bag to ready the packaging bag for receiving food waste therein; sealing means arranged at the upper portion of the waiting packaging bag to heat seal the upper portion of the packaging bag when food waste is received in the packaging bag; and discharging means for supporting the bottom of the packaging bag and discharging, by means of rotation, the packaging bag to a storage chute arranged below the discharging means after the completion of the sealing of the packaging bag.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a food waste packaging apparatus for anautomatic waste collection system, and more particularly, to a foodwaste packaging apparatus for an automatic waste collection system,which automatically performs the processes of putting food waste into apackaging bag, sealing the packaging bag, and discharging the packagingbag when the food waste is injected into a food waste inlet port.

BACKGROUND ART

An automatic waste collection system is a facility to transport waste,which is sucked together with air by suction force of an air blower, toa waste collection site through transport pipeline. Differently from acollection method of collecting household or office wastes by manpowerand vehicles, when wastes are injected into a waste inlet port of awaste bin installed indoors or outdoors, such an automatic wastecollection system performs the processes of transporting the wastes to acentral collection facility together with air flowing at high speed(ranging 70 km/h to 90 km/h) inside a transport pipeline by means ofcontrol of a central control system, directly injecting the wastes intoan incineration plant according to kinds of the wastes or automaticallyloading on a container, and transporting to a waste disposal site.

Such an automatic waste collection system is expected to create apleasant residential environment by solving problems of bad smells andsanitary matters, to solve pollution and safety matters of wastecollection vehicles, to enhance city life through an eco-friendly image,to prevent unnecessary waste of resources and energies, to reduceoperation and management costs of residents through the unmanned system,to make local governments financially healthy because manpower resourcesto collect wastes and vehicles to transport the wastes are unnecessary,and to provide sanitary effects by preventing damages by bad smells,leachat, animals due to accumulation of wastes a certain period of time.

Therefore, most of apartments, hospitals, large-scaled restaurants,high-rise buildings, airports, and others constructed recently areequipped with automatic waste collection systems.

Such an automatic waste collection system includes: a collection sitefor collecting and treating wastes; a plurality of waste bins installedat various places on the ground to allow persons to put wastes; and atransport pipeline buried underground to guide the wastes introducedthrough the plural waste bins to the collection site in a lump.

Each of the waste bins includes: a storage chute that is to temporarilystore the wastes put into the waste bin and is communicatingly connectedto the transport pipeline arranged below the storage chute; and an inletport that is mounted at the top of the waste bin and spaced apart fromthe storage chute at a predetermined interval.

The upper portion of the inlet port is exposed to the ground, and a mainbody of the inlet port is buried underground and communicatinglyconnected to the storage chute buried under the main body of the inletport at the predetermined interval from the main body.

In the meantime, the separate garbage collection legally obligated is aninvaluable system to reduce the volume of waste, to effectively useresources by recycling waste resources, and to reduce environmentalpollution.

Accordingly, the waste inlet port and the storage chute are separated toseparately collect general wastes from food waste, but the transportpipeline for transporting the wastes by suction is just one.

So, food waste and general waste are transported together through thetransport pipeline. Typically, food waste put in standard garbage bagsis transported together with general waste, and because the waste in thetransport pipeline is transported at high speed of about 25 m/s to 2km˜3 km, the standard garbage bags containing food waste (the standardgarbage bags are not durable because they are made of bio-degradableresin) may burst while flying at the high speed.

Particularly, in the case of a curved transport pipeline, the standardgarbage bags containing food waste are bumped and burst at points wherecurvature is changed, and hence, the food waste is stained around thepoints and makes there mess, there is onerousness that persons have toput the food waste into the standard garbage bags and tie up and sealthe upper portions of the bags so that the food waste does not leak out,and the food waste is stained on the hands during the above processes.

Transport pipelines are respectively buried underground to separatelytransport the food waste and general waste, but in this instance, thereis a problem in that respectively burying the transport pipelinesunderground is costly.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solvethe above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior arts, and it is anobject of the present invention to provide a food waste packagingapparatus for an automatic waste collection system, which automaticallycarries out the processes of putting food waste into a packaging bagdisposed inside an inlet port when the food waste is injected into theinlet port, sealing the packaging bag, and discharging the packaging bagto a storage chute located below the inlet port, thereby providingconvenience and preventing the food waste from being stained on thehands because there is no need that someone directly puts food wasteinto the garbage bag and seal the upper portion of the bag not to leak,and preventing the packaging bag from bursting and the food waste frombeing stained on the inner wall of a transport pipeline while thepackaging bag is moved through the transport pipeline because the foodwaste is moved in a state where it is put in the durable packaging bag.Technical Solution

To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a foodwaste packaging apparatus for an automatic waste collection systemincluding: a loading unit arranged below the waste inlet port in such afashion that a plurality of packaging bags are laid in the horizontaldirection and vertically loaded on the loading unit; supply means forsucking the top packaging bag out of the packaging bags loaded on theloading unit, placing the sucked top packaging bag below a hopper of thewaste inlet port in the vertical direction by rotation, and opening theupper portion of the packaging bag to make the packaging bag ready toreceive the food waste therein; sealing means arranged at the upperportion of the waiting packaging bag to seal the upper portion of thepackaging bag by heat when the food waste is received in the packagingbag; and discharging means for supporting the bottom of the packagingbag and discharging the packaging bag to a storage chute arranged belowthe discharging means by means of rotation after the completion of thesealing of the packaging bag.

Advantageous Effects

According to the present invention, the food waste packaging apparatuscan provide convenience and prevent the food waste from being stained onthe hands because there is no need that someone directly puts food wasteinto the garbage bag and seal the upper portion of the bag not to leak,and also prevent the packaging bag from bursting and the food waste frombeing stained on the inner wall of a transport pipeline while thepackaging bag is moved through the transport pipeline because the foodwaste is moved in a state where it is put in the durable packaging bag.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a structure of a food wastepackaging apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the structure of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a loading unit for packaging bags of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 4 a and 4 b are a front view and a side view of packaging bagsupply means of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of sealing means of FIG. 2.

<Explanation of essential reference numerals in drawings>  10: packagingbag 100: waste packaging apparatus 200: hopper 300: loading unit 400:supply means 500: sealing means 600: discharging means

MODE FOR INVENTION

Reference will be now made in detail to a bicycle tire 1 of the presentinvention with reference to the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a structure of a food wastepackaging apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is aschematic side view of the structure of FIG. 1. As shown in thedrawings, the food waste packaging apparatus 100 includes a hopper 200,a loading unit 300, supply means 400, sealing means 500, and dischargingmeans 600.

The hopper 200 for guiding a person to put food waste into an openpackaging bag 10 is disposed at an upper portion of the front of aninlet port body 110.

The loading unit 300 for loading the packaging bags 10 is disposed belowthe rear of the inlet port body 110, and a plurality of packaging bags10 are vertically loaded in a state where they are laid in thehorizontal direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, the loading unit 300 includes height controllingmeans 310 and width controlling means 320 for controlling height andwidth of the loading unit 300 according to the standards of height andwidth of the packaging bags 10 (here, the height means a height in astate where the packaging bags are upright, and the width means a widthin a state where the packaging bags are flattened).

The height controlling means 310 are mounted oppositely against eachother in the height direction of the packaging bags 10 (in drawings, ina lateral direction). Each of the height controlling means 310 includes:a conveying shaft 311 traversing along the height direction of thepackaging bags 10; a guide 312 of a predetermined length arranged sideby side with the conveying shaft 311 near end portions of the conveyingshaft 311; a control main body 313 conveyed along the conveying shaft311 and the guide 312; a support projection 314 protrudingly formed atan upper portion of the control main body 313 for supporting outer facesof the upper and lower portions of the loaded packaging bags 10; andstoppers 315 for fixing the control main body 313 not to move when aposition of the control main body 313 is determined.

The width control means 320 are mounted oppositely against each other inthe width direction of the packaging bags 10, and each of the widthcontrolling means 320 includes: a rotary shaft 321 traversing along thewidth direction of the packaging bags 10; a guide 322 of a predeterminedlength arranged side by side with the rotary shaft 321 near end portionsof the rotary shaft 321; a support projection 324 conveyed along therotary shaft 321 and the guide 322 and supporting the width of theloaded packaging bags 10 from the outside; and stoppers 325 for fixingthe support projection 324 not to move when a position of the supportprojection 324 is determined.

Moreover, one of the width control means 320 has a handle 326 joined toan end of the rotary shaft 321 for rotating the rotary shaft 321 tothereby make the support projections, which are opposed to each other,distance from each other and closer to each other.

Continuously, in FIGS. 1 and 2, the supply means 400, which is operatedto suck the top packaging bag out of the packaging bags 10 loaded on theloading unit 300, place the sucked top packaging bag below the hopper200 in the vertical direction by rotation, and open the upper portion ofthe packaging bag 10 is located above the loading unit 300.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 a and 4 b, the supply means 400 includesgrip means 410 and suction means 430 that are shaft-mounted to therotary shaft 450 to thereby be rotated together with the rotary shaft450.

When the suction means 430 is rotated, the grip means 410 for grippingthe packaging bags are opposed to each other at right and left sides ofthe suction means 430 when they are viewed from the front, and each ofthe grip means 410 includes: a fixed gripper 411 that is shaft-mountedto the rotary shaft 450 and is bent in the form of the Alphabet “L”; anda rotary gripper 415 rotatably joined to the lower portion of the outerface of the fixed gripper 411 for holding the packaging bag 10 togetherwith the fixed gripper 411.

In this instance, the packaging bag 10 is interposed between the bentbottom face of fixed gripper 411 and the upper face of the rotarygripper 415, and the grip means 410 hold the packaging bag 10 when therotary shaft 450 is rotated.

The rotary gripper 415 is joined to a piston rod 416 a of a cylinder 416rotatably joined to the upper portion of the outer face of the fixedgripper 411 and is rotated by means of expansion and contraction of thepiston rod 416 a.

The suction means 430 includes: a rotary body 431 shaft-mounted to therotary shaft 450; a mounting rod 432 mounted at the rotary body 431; acylinder 433 joined to the mounting rod 432; and a suction plate 434joined to a piston rod 433 a of the cylinder 433.

The suction plate 434 is connected to an air line (not shown) to therebysuck the packaging bag 10 by means of suction of air and release thesucked packaging bag 10 by means of discharge of air.

Furthermore, a weight shaft 435 is located at one side of the mountingrod 432 in such a way as to be side by side with the mounting rod 432,and includes a sensor (not shown) to balance weight and sense arotational angle by being joined to the rotary body 431.

Additionally, in the case that the mounting rod 432 is rotated at anangle of ninety degrees to keep horizontality, another suction plate 436is joined to another piston rod 437 at the side where the suction plate436 is opposed to the suction plate 434, and in this instance, it ispreferable that the suction plate 436 and the piston rod 437 are notjoined straight but joined face to face so that the size of the inletport body 110 is not big.

The suction plate 436 is also connected to the air line to suck thepackaging bag 10 or release the sucked packaging bag 10.

In the supply means 400, in a state where the mounting rod 432 ispositioned vertically and the piston rod 433 a is projected such thatthe suction plate 434 is located directly above the packaging bags 10loaded on the loading unit 300, when the suction plate 434 sucks the toppackaging bag 10 by means of suction of air, the piston rod 433 aperforms expansion and contraction to lift up the packaging bag 10.

In this instance, while the piston rod 416 a joined to the rotarygripper 415 performs expansion and contraction, the rotary gripper 415downwardly rotates, so that the bent bottom face of the fixed gripper411 is exposed to the outside.

The packaging bag 10 lifted by the expansion and contraction of thepiston rod 433 a in the sucked state is caught to the bent bottom faceof the fixed gripper 411, and at the same time, the contracted pistonrod 416 a is projected, so that the rotary gripper 415 is upwardlyrotated and holds the packaging bag 10 below the fixed gripper 411.

As described above, in the state where the packaging bag 10 is sucked bythe suction means 430 and held by the grip means 410, when the rotaryshaft 450 is rotated at an angle of ninety degrees and the mounting rod432 becomes in a horizontal state, the packaging bag 10 laid in thehorizontal direction stands vertically.

In the above state, when the piston rod 437 joined to the suction plate436 performs expansion and contraction (if necessary, when the pistonrod 433 a is projected, in this instance, the rotary gripper 415 isrotated not to hold the packaging bag 10) and the suction plates 434 and436 become closer to each other, the suction plate 436 sucks the upperportion of the standing packaging bag 10 by means of suction of air, sothat both sides of the upper portion of the packaging bag 10 are in asucked condition by means of the suction plates 434 and 436.

As described above, in the state where both sides of the upper portionof the packaging bag 10 are in the sucked condition by means of thesuction plates 434 and 436, when the piston rod 437 joined to thesuction plate 436 is projected (if necessary, the piston rod 433 a ofthe cylinder 433 is contracted), the suction plates 434 and 436 distancefrom each other, and the upper portion of the packaging bag 10 isopened, so that someone can put food waste into the packaging bag 10.

In this instance, the lower portion of the packaging bag 10 is supportedby a discharge plate 602 of the discharging means 600.

As described above, after the food waste is put into the inlet port andcontained in the packaging bag 10, the suction plates 434 and 436 arecloser to each other such that the upper portion of the packaging bag 10closes up. After that, the upper portion of the packaging bag 10 issealed by means of the sealing means 500 arranged above the packagingbag 10, and then, the sealed packaging bag 10 is discharged to a storagechute located below the packaging bag 10 when the discharge plate 602 ofthe discharging means 600 is rotated downwardly.

Moreover, the supply means 400 is operated on the contrary to the aboveto thereby be located at the original position.

Continuously, in FIGS. 1 and 2, the sealing means 500 is disposed abovethe packaging bag 10 in a waiting state of the packaging bag 10, andseals the packaging bag 10 when food waste is put into the packaging bag10.

As shown in FIG. 5, the sealing means 500 includes: a rotary shaft 502rotating at a predetermined angle; cantilevers 504 a and 504 bprotrudingly mounted at the rotary shaft 502 in the opposite directionto each other; links 506 a and 506 b respectively joined to thecantilevers 504 a and 504 b; bearings 508 a and 508 b respectivelyjoined to the links 506 a and 506 b; and slide shafts 510 that move in astate where the bearings 508 a and 508 b are shaft-mounted, the slideshafts 510 being mounted oppositely at the front and rear of the sealingmeans 500 when viewed in the drawings.

Connectors 510 a and 510 b are respectively joined to the opposedbearings 508 a and 508 b, and respectively include sealers 512 a and 512b for sealing both sides of the upper portion of the packaging bag 10 byheat.

When the rotary shafts 502 are rotated at the predetermined angle bymeans of the structure of the sealing means 500, the cantilevers 504 aand 504 b are rotated to ascend or descend in the opposite direction toeach other according to the rotational direction of the rotary shafts502, such that the links 506 a and 506 b joined to the cantilevers 504 aand 504 b and the bearings 508 a and 508 b joined to the links are movedin a direction that they distance from each other or in a direction thatthey become closer to each other, and thereby, the sealers 512 a and 512b are also moved to distance from each other or become closer to eachother.

In order to seal the upper portion of the packaging bag 10, the sealers512 a and 512 b become closer to each other to be in contact with thepackaging bag 10, and in this instance, seals the upper portion of thepackaging bag 10 by heat. In addition, after sealing, the rotary shafts502 are rotated in the opposite direction to each other at apredetermined angle, such that the sealers 512 a and 512 b distance fromeach other to be located at the original position.

Continuously, in FIG. 2, the discharging means 600 is disposed below thefront of the inlet port body 100, and includes the discharge plate 602,which has an end rotatably joined, and a cylinder 604 for rotating thedischarge plate 602.

The discharge plate 602 normally supports the packaging bag 10 whilekeeping horizontality, but, when sealing of the packaging bag 10 isfinished, is downwardly rotated by expansion or contraction of thepiston rod 604 a of the cylinder 604 to discharge the packaging bag 10to the storage chute located below the discharging means 600.

The supply means 400, the sealing means 500, and the discharging means600 are controlled by means of program of a controller (not shown) to beoperated in time series by interworking. The supply means 400 verticallylocates the packaging bag 10, which is horizontally loaded on theloading unit 300, below the hopper 200 in such a way that the packagingbag 10 is opened so that someone can put food waste therein. After thefood waste is put into the packaging bag 10, the sealing means 500 isoperated to seal the upper portion of the packaging bag 10, and in thisinstance, the supply means 400 is in a standby status at the originalposition. After sealing, the packaging bag 10 is discharged downwardlyby the discharging means 600, and then, the supply means 400 is operatedagain so that the packaging bag 10 is in the waiting state till someoneputs food waste therein.

As described above, when food waste is put into the waste inlet port,the food waste packaging apparatus according to the present inventionautomatically carries out a series of processes of putting the foodwaste into the packaging bag 10, sealing the packaging bag 10, anddischarging the packaging bag 10. Accordingly, because there is no needthat someone directly puts food waste into the garbage bag and seal theupper portion of the bag not to leak, the food waste packaging apparatusprovides convenience and food waste is not stained on the hands.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and describedwith reference to exemplary embodiment thereof, it will be understood bythose of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form anddetails may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as defined by the following claims.

1. A food waste packaging apparatus for an automatic waste collectionsystem, wherein the food waste packaging apparatus automatically carriesout a series of processes of putting food waste into a packaging bag,sealing the packaging bag and discharging the packaging bag to a storagechute located below a waste inlet port when the food waste is put intothe waste inlet port.
 2. The food waste packaging apparatus for theautomatic waste collection system according to claim 1, comprising: aloading unit arranged below the waste inlet port in such a fashion thata plurality of packaging bags are laid in the horizontal direction andvertically loaded on the loading unit; supply means for sucking the toppackaging bag out of the packaging bags loaded on the loading unit,placing the sucked top packaging bag below a hopper of the waste inletport in the vertical direction by rotation, and opening the upperportion of the packaging bag to make the packaging bag ready to receivethe food waste therein; sealing means arranged at the upper portion ofthe waiting packaging bag to seal the upper portion of the packaging bagby heat when the food waste is received in the packaging bag; anddischarging means for supporting the bottom of the packaging bag anddischarging the packaging bag to a storage chute arranged below thedischarging means by means of rotation after the completion of thesealing of the packaging bag.
 3. The food waste packaging apparatusaccording to claim 2, wherein the loading unit comprises heightcontrolling means and width controlling means for controlling height andwidth of the loading unit according to the standards of height and widthof the packaging bags to thereby support the loaded packaging bag fromthe outside.
 4. The food waste packaging apparatus according to claim 3,wherein the height controlling means are mounted oppositely against eachother in the height direction of the packaging bags, and each of theheight controlling means comprises: a conveying shaft traversing alongthe height direction of the packaging bags; a guide arranged side byside with the conveying shaft near end portions of the conveying shaft;a control main body conveyed along the conveying shaft and the guide; asupport projection protrudingly formed at an upper portion of thecontrol main body for supporting outer faces of the upper and lowerportions of the loaded packaging bags; and stoppers for fixing thecontrol main body not to move when a position of the control main bodyis determined.
 5. The food waste packaging apparatus according to claim3, wherein the width control means are mounted oppositely against eachother in the width direction of the packaging bags, and each of thewidth controlling means comprises: a first rotary shaft traversing alongthe width direction of the packaging bags; a guide arranged side by sidewith the first rotary shaft near end portions of the first rotary shaft;a support projection conveyed along the first rotary shaft and the guideand supporting the width of the loaded packaging bags from the outside;and stoppers for fixing the support projection not to move when aposition of the support projection is determined.
 6. The food wastepackaging apparatus according to claim 5, wherein one of the widthcontrol means has a handle joined to an end of the first rotary shaftfor rotating the first rotary shaft to thereby make the supportprojections, which are opposed to each other, distance from each otherand closer to each other.
 7. The food waste packaging apparatusaccording to claim 2, wherein the supply means comprises grip means andsuction means that are shaft-mounted to a second rotary shaft, andwherein the grip means for holding the packaging bag when the suctionmeans is rotated are opposed to each other at both sides of the suctionmeans, and each of the grip means comprises: a fixed gripper that isshaft-mounted to the rotary shaft and is bent in the form of theAlphabet “L”; and a rotary gripper rotatably joined to the lower portionof the outer face of the fixed gripper for holding the packaging bagtogether with the fixed gripper.
 8. The food waste packaging apparatusaccording to claim 7, wherein the suction means comprises: a rotary bodyshaft-mounted to the second rotary shaft; a mounting rod mounted at therotary body; a cylinder joined to the mounting rod; and a first suctionplate joined to a piston rod of the cylinder and connected to an airline; and a second suction plate opposed to the first suction plate andconnected to an air line when the mounting rod is rotated at an angle ofninety degrees to keep horizontality.
 9. The food waste packagingapparatus according to claim 8, wherein the second suction plate isjoined face to face with another piston rod and moves horizontally. 10.The food waste packaging apparatus according to claim 8, wherein aweight shaft for balancing weight is joined to the second rotary shaftand located side by side with the mounting rod.
 11. The food wastepackaging apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the sealing meanscomprises: a third rotary shaft rotating at a predetermined angle;cantilevers protrudingly mounted at the third rotary shaft in theopposite direction to each other; links respectively joined to thecantilevers; bearings respectively joined to the links; and slide shaftsthat move in a state where the bearings are shaft-mounted, the slideshafts being opposed to each other, and wherein connectors arerespectively joined to the opposed bearings, and respectively comprisesealers for sealing both sides of the upper portion of the packaging bagby heat.
 12. The food waste packaging apparatus according to claim 9,wherein a weight shaft for balancing weight is joined to the secondrotary shaft and located side by side with the mounting rod.